Category: The Top Five

So just in case you missed them, here’s the rundown of the Top Five posts from December, based on reader responses and feedback.

As always, your feedback, likes, and comments all help me discover what content is preferred so I can continue learning and growing as a writer. Thank you so much for that; I hope you continue to do so as I can’t learn and grow without you!

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NUMBER ONE: “Rebuilding My Safe Place”

Preview: I never appreciated what a gift it is to feel safe – safe at home, safe in relationships, safe expressing my thoughts and feelings, safe in the world around me – until it was stripped from me. I’d certainly felt unsafe before (there are more than a few dark alleys at midnight I ultimately chose to avoid over the years) but lack of safety was always a fleeting experience, directly related to something outside of myself. Something easily removed or avoided, quickly returning to the overall certainty that I was okay… CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

NUMBER TWO: “Let’s Talk Triggers”

Preview:Today I was efficiently moving through my to-do list, sitting at my desk and occasionally thinking about what I’d be making for dinner and trying to recall the last time I’d taken my dog out, when my phone started vibrating on the desk. Barely giving it a glance to see if it was someone I needed to pick up for, something in me froze when I looked at the screen and everything about the calm, just-another-day afternoon evaporated… CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

NUMBER THREE: “Ahab’s White Whale”

Preview: When I was young, I often enjoyed challenging myself with classic literature. One at a time, page after page, I started working my way through the likes of Dickens and Bronte, Hemingway, Shakespeare, and Austin all by the time I was ten years old. It was slow going in the beginning; often one of those tomes would require at least four or five months to finish in my early years. But I loved it… CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

NUMBER FOUR: “Last Christmas…”

Preview: Ever noticed how our minds are almost maddeningly good at glossing over the bad things in life? If you haven’t, try being in an abusive relationship and then getting out of it and you’ll quickly see what I mean. It’s a protective mechanism that is well documented in the medical community; it’s how abused children can have years of their lives repressed. And it’s why the adage ‘time heals all wounds’ is only kind of true. What it should really say is: ‘with enough time, your mind will dull the memories to make them less painful’… CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

NUMBER FIVE: “Loving A Ghost”

Preview: Randall used to often brag to me about how he wasn’t bothered by such things as sad memories weighing him down; he was genuinely confused when I’d talk about my memories, and then insist he simply didn’t have them…not in the way I described, at any rate. Insisting he forgot the faces of those around him within months of the last time he saw them (even his own mother), and swearing that he didn’t “miss” people because unless they were directly in front of him, he in a sense forgot they even existed… CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

Meghann Andreassen is a businesswoman, author, and personal success coach who contributes to this and other blogs on a regular basis. To learn more or to work with her personally, contact her through her website for a free consultation.

**Names and other personal identifying information of some individuals referenced throughout this blog have been changed to protect their identities

If you’re looking for a little bit of light reading this lovely Sunday afternoon/evening, here’s the rundown of my Top Five posts from November 2016, based on reader responses and feedback.

As always, your feedback, likes, and comments all help me discover what content is preferred so I can continue learning and growing as a writer. Thank you, I hope you continue to do so as I can’t learn and grow without you!

Now take a look below and see if you missed any of these from last month!

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NUMBER ONE: “The Day Prince Charming Rescued Me”

Preview: Once upon a time, not so very long ago, though mercifully it grows further and further away from me every day…well, let’s just say it wasn’t a fairytale. Shrouded in a fog of anxiety and raw nerves, I found myself one October evening sitting on a couch by myself staring at the television and contemplating what on earth I wanted to watch. It was a dilemma I’d not faced in a long time; my television hadn’t been mine to watch in ages, and I couldn’t remember the last time my house had been so quiet…empty of people and thus devoid of drama. It should have been a treat…but it wasn’t. As had become the pattern, I was out of sorts… CONTINUE

NUMBER TWO: “The One Thing I Don’t Talk About”

Preview: There’s a lot I’ve talked about since first coming out of my abusive relationship with Randall; speaking with loved ones who had no idea what happened to me, talking in group therapy sessions and on forums where I’ve connected with other men and women, processing with a therapist, and writing/sharing in spaces like this one. It’s important to do, although it can feel pretty awkward and strange at first. I think it took me a few months to even be able to say out loud the words ‘abusive relationship’… CONTINUE

NUMBER THREE: “Let Me Fall” (Part I)

Preview: “Meghann? How are you feeling now?” A hand touches my naked shoulder, and I hiss and recoil from it. Immediately the hand is gone. The weight of it is too much. The warmth too much. It’s all too much, because everything hurts. Absolutely everything. I can’t breathe without gasping for air. I can’t shift on the bed without whimpering in pain. And I don’t dare open my mouth, lest I throw up again. In this moment I am completely and utterly trapped, my body forcing me to lie down and take my punishment for what I’ve done to myself these last several months… CONTINUE

NUMBER FOUR: “Free At Last”

Preview: Do you want to know my secret to happiness in life? Not just superficial happiness, mind you; I’m talking about the real, raw, honest, gritty kind of happiness that has you able to smile – if only for a few minutes – even on the worst days. You want to know my secret for that? Are you ready for it? Here it is: Have no secrets… CONTINUE

NUMBER FIVE: “A Genesis Story”

Preview: In the beginning, there was a woman caught in an abusive relationship dreaming of a happier life. Except I found myself often dreaming not of my future, but instead of my past. Of happier times, when I was still smiling and laughing, and wasn’t heartbroken or anxious on a daily basis. Of people, places, and things that had appreciated me for who I was, and didn’t leave me feeling worthless, useless, or incompetent, but instead encouraged me to be the best I could be…. CONTINUE

Meghann Andreassen is a businesswoman, author, and personal success coach who contributes to this and other blogs on a regular basis. To learn more or to work with her personally, contact her through her website for a free consultation.

**Names and other personal identifying information of some individuals referenced throughout this blog have been changed to protect their identities

Welcome, Readers!

My name's Meghann, and this is my lemonade stand.

You'll see I'm a woman who wears many titles throughout the day, but here I'm just another human being figuring out what this thing called life is all about.

I firmly believe that while we all get served some pretty sour lemons in our lives, ultimately with the right attitude and support those lemons can be turned into sweet, sweet lemonade.

This blog represents my personal recipe. Would you care for a glass?

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